


Unrepentant

by fmo



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-20
Updated: 2014-08-20
Packaged: 2018-02-14 00:59:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2171907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fmo/pseuds/fmo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It is apparently a great surprise to everyone that Steve and Bucky are not entirely devoted to selflessness and asceticism. </p><p>Or: unrepentantly taking advantage of the spoils of the 21st century, and a few old pleasures too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unrepentant

The elevator dings tactfully in that expensive-electronics manner that all of Stark’s technology has. “Hey,” Sam says, emerging from it.

“Where’s James?” Natasha says, just behind Sam.

“Hey. Oh, he’s still in the shower,” Steve says, setting his pencil down and shaking out his hand.

“Dude, you said he was in the shower an hour ago,” Sam points out, raising his eyebrows slightly. “Literally one hour ago.”

Steve looks at his sketch again. Has it really been an hour?  Now that he thinks about it, the air is awfully humid, and condensation is beading on the interior of the elegant plate-glass windows, making a strange warm mirror image of the autumn rain on the glass outside. It’s actually quite pleasant, although probably it’s going to cause mold, if mold is something that happens in the Tower.

“Well, I don’t think he really cares about Tony’s water bill,” Steve says honestly.

 Natasha glances toward the hallway in a way that might convey concern or amusement, but then her expression evens and her elbow touches Sam’s side, and Sam starts to smile.

Steve sketches in a shadow, to cover for his own reaction, but he can hear it too—has been listening to it, in fact. Bucky is singing, has been singing for a while. Bucky never sings in public or at any other time, but he has a definite roster of songs that he’s started singing in the shower, and he has a strong, pleasant singing voice, if not a very polished one.

Then Natasha barks, “JAMES!” and the singing stops abruptly. “Don’t look at me that way,” Natasha says to Steve.

A moment later, Bucky emerges, dripping wet, hair slicked back with water and wearing jeans but no shirt. He has a towel slung around his neck. “What?” he says.

“Gym time? You, us, forty-five minutes ago?” Sam says dryly.

Bucky glances at Steve, apparently for confirmation of the time, then shrugs and says, “Okay, gimme five minutes.” 

*** 

“Hey, I’m not interrupting anything?” Bruce says, making it kind of a question and kind of not, as he steps out of the elevator.

“No, not really,” Steve says. He knows that Bruce, like a slightly awkward vampire who visits every two months or so, is here to get more super-serum blood. Steve has historically not been eager to give his blood to anyone, but he trusts Bruce and it’s hard to say no to a friend.

Bruce pauses a foot away from the elevator. “I, uh, I thought you might be out. Running,” he says. It is seven a.m., so Steve can see why he thinks this.

“No. Actually, we haven’t gone to bed yet,” says Bucky brightly. He and Steve are sitting on the floor cross-legged, playing rummy and drinking top-shelf whiskey (it has no effect on them, but it sure tastes good). They are also grazing on the contents of a large box of what are apparently called mozzarella sticks (why is it that so much food in the future seems to come in stick form?). Essentially, they’d looked at a menu and picked a large number of items that sounded interesting. “Did you know you can order food over the Internet?” Bucky says.

“Yes,” Bruce says. Then he says, “You haven’t gone to bed yet?”

“We haven’t gone to bed yet,” Steve confirms. “You may not want to take my blood right now. There’s probably a lot of alcohol in there.” He looks at his hand again, picks another card and keeps looking at the hand.

“Are you, uh, are you okay?” Bruce asks, in the tones of one who feels desperately incapable of doing anything about it if the answer is ‘no.’

“Yup,” says Bucky. He puts down a set of five cards, eliciting a hiss from Steve.

“Okay,” Bruce says, backing into the elevator again.

“Gin,” Steve says, causing Bucky to hit him over the head with a couch cushion for sneakiness.

***

“So,” Tony states. “You both have the flu.” He strides off the elevator, then folds his arms in what might be an attempt to look judgmental.

“Yes,” Steve says, turning a page in his book. He doesn’t look up from it; he’s experienced the judging gaze of both Colonel Phillips and Peggy Carter, both of whom were experts in inducing shame just with a look. In comparison, Tony’s effort is amateur-level at best. Also, unlike with Peggy or the Colonel, Steve is not prepared to believe that Tony will shoot at him for his misdeeds.

Bucky is reclining on the couch near Steve, one arm behind his head, and peering at the laptop that’s balanced on his stomach. He never really learned to use computers before, but he’s been catching on quickly.

“Wow,” Tony says. “Wow. I’m not sure if I’m insulted by the total lack of effort you made in lying or impressed by your total lack of remorse. If you did this in the Army, didn’t they make you dig ditches or something?”

“We are civilians now,” says Bucky. “Stark, what’s wrong with this? It looks shitty.” He turns his screen toward Stark. 

Tony looks. “Of course it looks shitty,” he says. “Why are you torrenting crappy copies of TV shows when JARVIS can get you HD so crisp your eyes will bleed? Who even taught you—never mind. JARVIS, get this man some better quality TV, please. You’re welcome.” He tosses the laptop back at Bucky. “So what is this, like a really, _really_ late adolescent rebellion?”

“We like _Xena: Warrior Princess_ ,” Steve explains.

“Actually,” Bucky says, “Steve skipped his Medal of Honor ceremony, and that was in 1944. He also falsified his enlistment form five whole times, _and_ went AWOL when he wasn’t even in the army.”

Stark perches on the arm of the empty armchair. “Oh, no, I get it,” he says. “ _You_ are a bad influence.” This is directed at Bucky.

“That is completely untrue,” Bucky says. “I was a good kid. It says so in the Smithsonian. Anyway, like I said, we’re civilians now.” Bucky drops the laptop on the couch beside him. “No getting up at the crack of dawn if we don’t want to.”

Steve wishes he could make Tony leave just through mysterious powers of the mind, but in absence of those he says, “Can’t be responsible all the time. Anyways, Sam says it’s healthy.”

Sam was the ultimate arbiter of emotional health among the Avengers and their associates, and he _had_ said it was healthy. Steve had consulted Sam one morning, concerned that he was being too lax with himself. Sam had said, “Well, I think it’s fine. When did either of you ever get the chance to just lay around and do whatever you wanted? I know Bucky didn’t. So take advantage of it. Don’t do it forever, don’t let your apartment get gross, but yeah, let yourself be a little bit irresponsible if you want to. Because when I met you, you had this perfect regime for everything, and you were not that happy.”

“I’d say I’m disappointed in you but if anyone’s the dad in this situation, it’s not me,” Tony says to Steve, although he seems secretly delighted. Tony gets up to leave. “Still, I’m not disagreeing with Sam, but you two owe me for missing this party. I generously furnish you with a home, free of cost, and also eighteen million gallons of water per day, the purposes of which I don’t ask about, remember.” He points his finger at Steve. “Sam came. I’m just saying. Even Natasha showed up.”

“Bye,” Bucky says from his comfortable position on the couch. But once Tony’s gone, Bucky puts his feet on the floor, scrutinizes Steve, and says, “You really want to go to the party?”

“Well,” Steve says, twisting in his chair to look behind him. The kitchen is dark, empty. Vacant.

“Don’t tell me you feel guilty,” Bucky says, raising an eyebrow. “I will not believe it.”

Steve closes the book, then wrinkles his brow and says, “Do you think they have those oysters again? ‘Cause I don’t think there’s anything left in the refrigerator other than those bottles of coffee that you bought.” And he really is hungry, and there’s only so many times you can order food over the Internet before it gets a little embarrassing telling JARVIS to let the delivery guy in.

Put-upon and long-suffering, Bucky sighs and says, “Fine. Go put on your suit and let’s go eat some oysters.”

Steve grins, because of all the things Bucky could be complaining about, it’s an awfully nice one. “Come on,” he says, holding out his hand. “Maybe if we’re quick, Stark won’t see us.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please comment! : )
> 
> Come say hi to me at fmowrites.tumblr.com, and if you found this fic through a rec, please tell me! I love to hear about being recced.


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